Life in the Minors - Chapter 2: How They Got Here

WFUV Sports finds out how the Brooklyn and Staten Island players got to the minors.

Minor League Baseball: How does it differ from the majors? For the eleventh consecutive year, WFUV goes behind the scenes with the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees In the Short Season Single-A NY-Penn League, it's long bus rides, low pay, and 76 games in 80 days. This is our look at Life in the Minors: How the Other Half Lives.

Steve Simineri, Brooklyn Cyclones Beat Reporter

Growing up as a kid playing little league, everyone’s dream is to someday wear a big league uniform and play in the majors. But thatdream doesn’t become a reality to most people. Getting to the majors is a long process and years of working up the ladder and improving your game.

For a few lucky ones the hard work and determination pays off, but not before they play in the minors. And for some the journey to the majors has taken them to Brooklyn.

Players in the Cyclones’ clubhouse are from all over the world and their paths to Brooklyn are all quite different. For some its being drafted right out of high school, for others its coming from overseas and for some its playing college baseball. These players are from all parts of the word including California, Mexico, Chicago, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and New York.

But in the clubhouse it doesn’t matter where you come from because you are playing minor league baseball for the New York Mets, in the greatest city in the world.

Kevin Sutcliffe, Staten Island Yankees Beat Reporter

In talking to the Staten Island Yankees, I discovered that these players all have different backgrounds and unique influences that made them the minor leaguers they are today.

Evan DeLuca is particularly excited to play in New York, as it’s only a short trip from his hometown of Somerville, New Jersey. After being drafted out of Immaculata High School, Evan spent a year in the Gulf Coast League and now goes from playing fourteen hours away from his hometown, to just a few minutes.

I also uncovered who influenced these players as children. Shane Brown’s mother turned him onto baseball, and he’s stuck with it ever since. On the other hand, Ben Gamel’s baseball career began because he wanted to compete with his brother. Either way, it seems that family has a great influence on how these players got into baseball.

This is also Manager Tom Slater’s and Pitching Coach Daniel Burrell’s first year coaching in Staten Island. Like many of the players, these coaches also come from the Gulf Coast League. Coach Slater believes those previous experiences will help him better develop these Baby Bombers into Bronx Bombers.

The players come from all different places and backgrounds. But no matter how diverse their paths are, they all look to reach the same destination…Yankees Stadium.